8 March, 2010
The Trade Union Congress (TUC) of the UK released a new publication today, on International Women’s Day. The magazine profiles, and gives voice to, prominent women trade unionists from around the world, specifically the global south.
The TUC carries out considerable international solidarity work, much of this work in the global south focuses on women, as the publication explains “whether they are in paid work or not, women make up an ever growing majority of the world’s poor”.
Hasmeya Muhsin
The ICEM is proud that their Executive Committee member Hashmeya Muhsin is one of the women to be profiled. Hashmeya, President of the Electricity Workers’ Union in Basra, Iraq, has been a key figure in the campaign for a new, fair labour law in Iraq.
Hashmeya won the Dutch Human Rights Award, the FNV’s prestigious Febe Elisabeth Velasquez Trade Union Award, in May 2009. The money awarded with this prize was used to fund the recent Social Security Campaign in Iraq, fighting for land, health, and equality reforms in the war-torn country.
Putting herself under continuing personal risk, Hashmeya Muhsin is the first female trade union leader in Iraq, and one of the very few in the Arab-speaking world.
The publication also includes, among others, profiles of project coordinators against HIV/AIDS in Africa, a brave woman trade unionist from Zimbabwe, and of course Su Su Nway, the jailed trade unionist in Burma.
View the publication here.
Last week, a multi-GUF plus International Trade Union Congress (ITUC) letter was submitted to the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (UNCSW), in New York. The letter, addressed to Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon criticizes the process and substance of the Session, which has faced many disruptions and obstacles. View the letter here.
International Women’s Day was established in 1910, when a Socialist Women’s Congress in Copenhagen decided to embark on the annual day. The following year 1911 saw the first events marking the day, in four countries Austria, Germany, Switzerland, and Denmark.